“Oh, Didn’t They Ramble” — Publication day!

“Publication date” is a pretty squishy thing in the book business, or at least my little corner of it. It’s more like a range of weeks or even months rather than a specific date on the calendar. That runs counter to what I know of such things from the music industry, which keeps to rigidly specific schedules and tries very hard to keep new albums under lock and key until the appointed hour when they’re supposed to roll out.

By contrast, my new Rounder Records book “Oh, Didn’t They Ramble” began filtering out into the world more than a month before its “official” publication date. Hardback copies arrived in the University of North Carolina Press warehouse the week of Sept. 6 and started showing up in the wild not long after that. And we did our pre-publication launch events the end of last month at IBMA’s World of Bluegrass, weeks ahead of the publication date.

Tonight’s the night, y’all.

So what does publication date mean, anyway? My understanding is that it’s the last date by which every retail outlet that has ordered books will have copies in stock. So for whatever it’s worth, my long-awaited publication date is today, finally — Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2024. Whew. The latest end of the beginning of an ongoing, seemingly never-ending process. Happy birthday, “Ramble.” Break a leg out there.

We are well into the marketing, publicizing and selling part of the operation. I’ve already talked myself blue in the face about this book, with a lot more to come. I’m glad to do it, of course. Given how much solitary work goes into writing and publishing a book, you want to give it the best possible shot at finding an audience. Besides which, it’s fun to take a few victory laps.

A key celebratory occasion happens this very evening at Raleigh’s Quail Ridge Books, the first big local reading in my hometown. My good friend “Showtime” Ryan Kennemur will also be on hand as special-guest musical accompaniment, with his guitar to play a few songs from the Rounder Records catalog.

If you’re in the Raleigh vicinity, come pick up a book or three — the holidays are right around the corner, after all — or at least one of these very cool buttons. If you can’t make it tonight, I’ll be doing quite a few other events elsewhere; here’s the schedule.

Hope to see you out there.

“Oh, Didn’t They Ramble” on the top shelf right next to Dolly Parton at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh. I like it.